


What Persists After Death

by BrandyVorta (GhostySoldier)



Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: Descriptions of dead Cavendishes, Ghosts, M/M, Milo Sees Dead People AU, Season 2 spoilers, Though only at the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 09:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16851577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostySoldier/pseuds/BrandyVorta
Summary: At first he never sees two in the same place.But then he starts noticing how the death marks change with each encounter. One has train wheel marks over his body, another has a crumpled hat and blood trickling from his head. Another still has burns all over his body. Then he starts seeing some in the same area at the same time. Two of the same man, one with broken, crumpled legs, and another with a hole in his chest. When he first meets Cavendish and Dakota, he almost says "Oh, it's you again" when he sees Cavendish.He almost doesn't realize this man is alive.AU where Milo can see ghosts, and with every Dakota for the island, a Cavendish spirit also exists. Just a kind of rambling what-if scenario, nothing too polished.





	What Persists After Death

At first he never sees two in the same place.

But then he starts noticing how the death marks change with each encounter. One has train wheel marks over his body, another has a crumpled hat and blood trickling from his head. Another still has burns all over his body.

Then he starts seeing some in the same area at the same time. Two of the same man, one with broken, crumpled legs, and another with a hole in his chest. When he first meets Cavendish and Dakota, he almost says "Oh, it's you again" when he sees Cavendish.

He almost doesn't realize this man is  _ alive _ .

But, Milo knows how to mask his feelings, so he's cordial. Polite. Asking for a bag of pistachios before the cart suddenly explodes. For a moment, he anticipates seeing the man's spirit float from his body, but when that doesn't happen, he's confused.

But his sister wants to get back to the line for the movie, so he tries not to dwell on it.

The second time he sees him alive, at the opera, he thinks it has to be a coincidence.

The third time, in the science room closet, he's just baffled, but once again, says nothing of it.

When he finds the man's partner alone at the lake, he almost expects to find the man's spirit floating restlessly around him. However, the ghostly man in green is nowhere to be found. Milo's polite, gets an introduction out of the way, gets his pistachios and moves on.

When the man nabs him from the out of control fire truck to confront him, Milo isn't sure what to say. What is he supposed to say? "I know you die but I don't know how you die"? It doesn't help that he can see the man's spirit, covered in road rash and just as disgruntled, floating behind him in a perfect mirror of his living counterpart's pose. But he hopes that, perhaps this time, he can save his life. Even if it doesn't last for long.

It's not long before Milo encounters the two again. Dakota, the man's partner, asks him about Murphy's Law, which he is happy to explain. It causes things to go wrong around him, yes, but something he doesn't mention is that it allows him to see dead people as well.

He ends up in a limo with the pair of them, without his backpack and sent to the future. He's almost overwhelmed when the billboard drops away and reveals a ravaged world teeming with ghosts. Almost all of them have marks almost like rope burn wrapped around their bodies, most prominently on their necks. The cause for all these spirits is soon revealed: sentient pistachio monsters. Terrifyingly, Milo soon catches sight of a group of three spirits, all with the same marks around their necks. Spirits that look just like  _ him _ and the two men he's with: Cavendish and Dakota. Cavendish has more marks than him, but Dakota's spirit is the most marred. Almost like he'd fought til the last.

It's then that a peach flies out of the sky and hits Cavendish-- the  _ living _ Cavendish --in the chest, stalling them long enough to notice they'd almost walked right into a Pistachion patrol. The trio of spirits look relieved and move on. But Milo can never forget what he'd seen.

Throughout the rest of the adventure, Milo finds himself noticing that after that initial sighting, there weren’t any more spirits of the group he was in. Not even in the final battle in the school courtyard, for once there was no ghostly Cavendish to be seen. But of course, it didn’t last.

Once things were back to normal, and he bid Cavendish and Dakota farewell for the time being, he started seeing those spirits again. Always Cavendish. Of course there were other lost spirits, but it became shockingly apparent to him just  _ how many _ Cavendishes there were roaming the mortal plane.

It was always a Cavendish. Never a Dakota.

Once or twice, Milo thought he glimpsed another Dakota, but he looked alive, corporeal. He couldn’t be a spirit. So Milo tried to write those sightings off as a trick of the light, or perhaps a mirror somewhere. Not once did it cross his mind that Dakota was crossing his own timelines.

Perhaps maybe he should have considered it.

How else could he explain the multitudes of dead Cavendishes? How else could he explain the spirit of Cavendish trying to help his living self care for the de-aged Dakota? How else could he explain the mangled, bloodied spirit of Cavendish standing just beside the manhole their boiler-propelled toboggan shot out of? The panic Dakota showed for just a brief moment when he realized there were no more time vehicles in the 21st century?

Milo figured he should have realized it sooner. But it wasn’t until the army of Dakotas flew in from the sky, led by the real Dakota, Cavendish, Orton and future Professor Time that it really sunk in. Dakota had been saving Cavendish every time he died, completely unaware of the spirit still left behind. For every Dakota, there was a ghostly Cavendish. And sometimes, Milo realized with a start, there was a ghostly version of himself. Dakota wasn’t just saving Cavendish anymore. He was saving  _ him _ , the kid Dakota took it upon himself to care for when they were in the bad future. He was so selfless to make that sacrifice again and again for those he cared about. Milo owed him his life.

When the clouds parted and the Pistachions were defeated once more, Milo would hug them both. Thanking Dakota for everything he did for them, and thanking Cavendish for enduring it all. He hoped that their boss would be understanding of them, considering they saved the world. Twice. The pair didn’t seem to have much faith in that idea, but they thanked Milo for the sentiment anyway.   
_ Yes _ , Milo thought, as he watched the pair go, arms wrapped around each other in a half-embrace.  _ They’d be alright now. _

**Author's Note:**

> So this kinda got rambly towards the end? I didn't really know how to end it, it was just a sort of what-if scenario based on a 'theory' made in the S2 episode "Milo's World". I hope you enjoy the concept at least!


End file.
